Page 27 of Cloud Nine Love

“Really?” Kane asked, seeming surprised.

“Yeah,” Ruby confirmed.

“I have to go potty!” Harper jumped up and down.

“Let’s go.” I held out my hand.

Harper took my hand and skipped beside me as we went in search of a bathroom. This was what life was all about. I was home with my daughter. My family. My new home. My new job. My new life.

Kyle was in the past. The sooner I accepted that and put him there, the better off I would be.

11

REMI

“You can fall in love with someone in less than four minutes.” ~ Tim Rhodes

“Thank you for flying Eagle Air. Have a great day.”

I grinned at the flight attendant as I passed by her on my way off the plane. I hadn’t told anyone about my change in flight, but Ruby mentioned earlier in the week that they were picking up Taylor, the Best Woman, today, so I figured I’d take a shot and see if they were here. If not, I’d either Uber or get a rental car.

I’d never met Taylor before. She and Kane met in boot camp and became fast friends. And that’s all they were for over a decade. From what I knew, they only hooked up one time, which resulted in their daughter, but both agreed that they would be better off as friends. From what I’d been told, she was impressive. I didn’t know the details, only that she’d had a dysfunctional childhood, enlisted at eighteen, served for four years, then applied for a scholarship through the Navy to cover medical school, which she received and was accepted to. Once she’d finished her residency, she’d served another four years to fulfill her obligation to the service, and now she was going to be working at the hospital in Parrish Creek in the E.R.

Kane only ever had good things to say about her, and I was looking forward to finally meeting her. Not only was she Kane’s best friend and baby mama, but she was also the mother of the little girl my sister was going to be the stepmom to. She was practically family.

I shot off a quick text, letting Ruby know I’d flown in a day early and just landed. Before I put my phone back in my pocket, she replied that they were still at the airport and where to meet them. I ‘liked’ the message and headed her way.

As I made my way through the crowded airport, thoughts and flashbacks from the night before consumed me. It had been so incredible that it was still difficult for me to believe it happened. But it had. And it was perfect. Even though I wouldn’t change a single moment, I couldn’t help but regret one thing. I had always tried to live my life in a way that I didn’t have regrets, but I had a feeling that not finding out Ana’s real name might just be the first and biggest regret of my life.

I wanted to believe that fate was real and destiny would cause our paths to cross again, but I’d learned at a very early age that wanting something to happen or not to happen had no bearing on what actually did happen.

Still, I couldn’t help but hope.

Even now, I found myself scanning all of the faces in the crowd like a real-life version of Where’s Waldo, except mine would be Where’s Ana. My search wasn’t totally fruitless. I spotted Kane’s head above the crowd. He stood about two inches taller than me and had been that height since we were freshmen in high school.

When he noticed me, he leaned down and whispered something in Ruby’s ear before pointing in my direction. I waited to see if I felt any anger or protectiveness. But there was none of that. Kane was a stand-up guy. I knew that he would never mistreat my baby sister, and that was honestly all I could ask for.

As soon as Ruby saw me, she rushed toward me. I threw my arms around her. She’d had a really tough year after her debut performance on Broadway ended in a viral video and an emergency room visit. It had killed me not being able to protect her from the fallout, from the online trolling, and from her losing her career and home. But it all seemed to have worked out because, without that happening, she would never have come back to Wishing Well. And, I could honestly say, I’d never seen or heard her as happy as she’d been since returning to our hometown and being with Kane.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” Ruby enthused.

“So am I.” I hugged her tightly once more before my arms dropped and I faced Kane. I could see in his eyes that he was concerned I might give him shit about hooking up with my sister, but honestly, I was just so happy for them both. I thought about making him sweat for a few minutes or longer, but instead decided to let him off the hook. I reached out and pulled him into a one-arm man hug. “Hey, man. Good to see you.”

“You, too.” He patted my back.

“Where’s Misty?” Ruby asked.

Right, Misty. That’s probably the thing I should have been thinking about instead of obsessing over Ana.

I cleared my throat. “Oh, she’s not coming. We broke up.”

Ruby glanced up at Kane, probably looking for some indication as to whether he knew anything and was holding out on her. He didn’t, and he wasn’t.

She looked back at me with a furrowed brow. “You did? When?”

“Yesterday.”

“Are you okay?” She reached out and touched my arm, concern filling her eyes.

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